Short Notes

By Drew

• Nuns with Manicures? The title of an interesting post by Greg Sandow, with his perspectives on the Met's theater operacasts. He brings up some points that I, frankly, hadn't considered before. Check out the comments section for a nice comment by our very own Mitchell!
• Terry Teachout mentioned last week that he's writing the libretto for a new opera commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera, an adaptation of Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" with music by Paul Moravec. I know the libretto will be good, and based on Terry's recommendation I'm sure Paul Moravec will do a good job as well - but it still doesn't stop me from questioning whether we really need more new operas out there, when there are so many underperformed ones. I know, I know, we've been over this ground before...
• Speaking of Maugham, Michael at 2Blowhards has a very good piece on movie adaptations of two Maugham stories, "Up at the Villa" and "The Painted Veil." Michael's piece serves the purpose of all good reviews - it makes you curious about the films (and books) and helps you decide whether or not you want to see (or read) them.
• I saw this earlier at NRO, but the classical music blog Comparing Notes has this humorous bit on Anna Netrebko and her guns. No, really! I've mentioned how I think she's a great singer, haven't I? I wouldn't dare say anything else...